


Hello?

by vampgirltish



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Angst, Angst with a happy ending?, F/M, Gen, relationships that aren't working
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-24
Updated: 2015-11-24
Packaged: 2018-05-03 03:21:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5274632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vampgirltish/pseuds/vampgirltish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Distance caused a divide, but the love could never have been stronger.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hello?

“Hello?” you spoke into the phone. “I....it’s me. It’s been a long time since you left.... I’ve been thinking a lot about what happened since you left. I don’t know why, but I just wanted....,” you stopped. What did you want? Closure? To see him again? To ask how he’s been? You decided to be honest. “I...don’t know exactly what I want. I just was hoping maybe we could talk again. Not necessarily about getting back together or anything, but just... talk about what happened. You...don’t have to agree. You can ignore this. I just...wanted to say this... This might not even be your number anymore,” you said softly. “But...if it is, I guess I can take some comfort in knowing you might hear this.”

You sighed before hanging up. You didn’t want to say goodbye at the end of your message. That made it feel too much like an end. You’d kept his number in your phone for months after you broke up. It had been almost a year, now, since he moved out of New York. You didn’t know why you called him again. Maybe all that time you spent away from him was good- it could give you a clear head and a clearer picture. But at the same time...you felt so empty. It felt wrong to come home to an empty house now. The comforter felt so cold without him there.

You wondered if he’d changed. If he’d look any different. If he still looked like you’d remembered, like the sweet-faced, kind-eyed Jersey boy of your heart. He still had such a steadfast hold on your heart, and it didn’t feel like that comforting vice-grip was going away any time soon. That warm hold was a constant, a reminder of how he let you go to protect your heart, but instead he took it with him, right out of your chest, right out from between your fourth and fifth ribs, and right out of New York.

~*~

“Hello?” he said, and he couldn’t help agreeing with you in your previous message, “It’s been awhile.” His hands raked through his hair. “I’d love to be able to talk but...all the calls don’t really seem to work. I’ve been in California almost a year now.” He didn’t know why he wasn’t stuttering, even though his heart was racing in his chest. “I’ve been...thinking too. How we didn’t care back then. It was just you and me, stomping in the snow and sliding on the icy patches of the sidewalks in New York. When nothing really...mattered, I guess.” His voice got quieter. “I...feel like I’ve forgotten what it’s like. Like I’ve forgotten what you were like. Hearing your voice again was so familiar but still...like...wrong. I don’t know how to explain it. I miss when things made sense or they didn’t have to make sense...before things sort of...fell apart. I’ll try to talk to you and we can try to meet to talk this out?”

He hung up. Pressing that red end button felt like the final straw, the moment that turned around the taciturn that had resulted from your parting ways. He’d missed you, probably more than he really realized, but he didn’t know how to verbalize that. And he did want to talk, to get everything out, to explain himself. He had to break up with you for- well, for some reasons. He didn’t want to think about them now. He had some regrets about letting you go, and had a lot more about leaving you all alone in New York with nothing but silence and radio static between you two.

He wondered, for a moment, if you had kept the CDs he’d lent you. The old discs of his first band and the band he had before he’d left. His old copy of Rush’s self titled album, well loved and the CD booklet torn and taped time and time again. The disc of his original copy of A Farewell to Kings, played so many times the disc skipped and scratched and refracted broken rainbows of light on the walls of his room. You had used to hold it up against the sunlight and let the colors dance on the grey-beige paint of his walls, trying to make sense of it, form them into shapes, letters, words. He used to search for the clouds, the elephants, the rabbits. For the hearts, the flowers, the thumbs-ups. He would try to see where the blue would write an ‘i’, then the red would make a heart, and the yellow made a ‘u.’ He tried to see all of the things that you saw in your creative head, but his head was just on another creative frequency.

~*~

As he watched the phone light up with your name on it, his heart pounded in his chest. He almost tapped that red button to hang up on accident, before quickly tapping the green several times in succession so his phone knew that he wanted to answer this call, no way in hell was he rejecting it.

The screen went dark as the phone rang. You watched as it quickly switched to the 00:00 that started the call, followed by his voice that you missed so much.

“Hello?” he said, his voice breaking for a moment. What if he’d called the wrong number? What if you hated him now?

“Danny?” you said, voice quiet, soft. You heard his breath intake and almost could hear his doofy smile. You knew that he was relieved you answered. You were relieved he called at all.

“Hey, (y/n),” he said.

“You’ve landed in town, haven’t you?”

“Yeah, yeah I have. I’m in La Guardia.” The jittery feeling in knowing that you were in the same airport he was, still there, waiting for him. Waiting to pick him up and take him to some restaurant you’d found that you loved. He couldn’t remember the name now.

“What gate? I’ll come find you.” You were waiting in extreme anticipation for the number and letter, trying to contain your excitement.

“Fourteen B,” he said, and could hear the quiet rustle of the phone as you started walking, the speed of your movements causing a draft. “And we’re going to that little cafe after, right?”

“Yeah, yeah, Urban Vintage. I think you’ll like it a lot. They have some amazing green tea.” You couldn’t help your excitement now, and you hurried, saying, “Hey, hey, I’ll see you in a sec,” and hanging up before he could keep talking and making you more excited to see him.

He couldn’t stop his heart from racing out of his chest, the anticipation was too much. He just wanted to see your face again, catch up, drink some damn good tea. Things would be right again.

You saw a tall figure standing, flicking through some conversation on his cell phone. A large cloud of hair surrounded his head, but you couldn’t see his face. Scanning the crowd, there were more people you didn’t know for sure. In your uncertainty, your excitement faltered. Your voice was soft as you said, “Danny?” You hoped he heard you, wherever he was sitting, and would turn towards you.

Looking up from the conversation on his phone where he’d texted Arin letting him know he’d landed in New York just fine, he’d heard your voice. He turned, and there you were. You’d barely changed. Your hair was a bit different than it had been, but you looked just as beautiful as he remembered. He took a few steps closer, and couldn’t stop the chuckle upon seeing your face.

He looked so different. His face, littered with stubble that made him look a lot older, was cracked with a grin and wrinkles around the corners of his eyes from laughing so much. God, those brown eyes, you’d missed them. His hair was so much longer than before, and so much curlier. His hair getting longer only made his hair look more like his father’s. You couldn’t help but like the wild mane on him. It fit him well, you decided.

Following you out to your car, he couldn’t stop thinking about how amazing this was. Arin was asking him a million questions, to the point that he muted the conversation on his phone. Suzy just asked him if he was doing okay and landed safely. Barry asked him to tell the details soon. The drive was about an hour, but you two didn’t talk that much. You both mutually agreed, in the silence, that you wanted to save it for when you got to the place.

You pulled into a parking spot, getting out of the car and leading him inside. You smiled at the waitress and went to your usual table. She brought you both some water, and you sighed. “So...”

“So...” he echoed. How to start this? He guessed the easiest way to start this was from the very beginning. “Maybe we should start with why we broke up.”

“You were trying to protect my heart, Danny. I know that.” You knew that he knew a long distance relationship would just hurt you both. You got lonely too easily and he was too sensitive.

“...Yeah,” he conceded. “I didn't want you to hurt because of it.” He wished he had more of a way with words, but his Skyhill days had long since passed. The more eloquent parts of his speech had mostly been replaced with euphemistic ways to talk about dicks and sex now. He regretted it for a moment.

“And I appreciate that.” And you did. More than he probably knew.

“I just want to let you know I'm not the same person I was when I was in New York.” He had to be honest, and if being a different person made her not like him, that was the way it had to be.

“I know that. That’s why I wanted to catch up. I know there are some things that will be different about you, but I can bet you're still the same Leigh Daniel Avidan I know.”

His heart fluttered when you said his full name. He didn’t hate his first name nearly as much when you said it. It sounded beautiful. “And I’ sure you're the same beautiful girl that I know too. The one I almost hit with--”

“Your stupid silver Saturn! I hated that car. You almost killed me in that crosswalk.”

He couldn't help but laugh and smile. “Yeah... but she got me around alright.”

“Even though she smelled like pot all the time?” you teased.

“Alright, alright, listen. She smelled like pot partially because of me, but mostly because of the other Hues guys. They were the ones who smoked more than me.”

You were just pushing his buttons now because you could, and you knew he wouldn't take it to heart. He knew that you were kidding. “Then how come your car after that smelled too?”

“Okay, fine. I admit. Gloria the Galant was entirely my fault. There was a lot of pot in that car...” he trailed off, scratching the back of his neck with a nervous laugh. “But I don't do that stuff anymore! I’ve got a sweet car with leather seats and everything!”

You giggled. “Ooh, la, la. No more upholstery for Mister Avidan, huh?”

He giggled too. A silence fell.

Luckily, you picked up the conversation back to the topic you came to discuss. It was nice to joke around, in fact it felt like old times again. It made you remember why you two dated for as long as you did. You did have to bring the conversation back. “But I’ve missed you. I haven't coped well since you left. I haven't dated... haven't really kept relationships or friendships in general if I'm honest.”

“Me neither, (y/n). I’m glad you called me the other day.”

“I’m glad I called too.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> enjoy my garbage!! :D


End file.
